S'
Battalion
The Weather
75 No. 26
30 Pages In 2 Sections
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Wednesday, October 7, 1981
College Station, Texas
TODAY
Hi 78
Lo. 65
Rain 100%
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
TOMORROW
Hi 79
Lo 67
Rain 40%
Egypt silent on assailants
Sadat assassinated
Tuesday’s campus-wide power failure was caused
by rain leaking into this 12,000 volt switching unit,
Staff photo by Brian Tate
which burned out about 7 a.m. at the Texas A&M
power plant.
tower outage on campus
eaves A&M in the dark
Bv MARTY BLAISE
Battalion Reporter
Diners coped with cold cuts, the
ieamcry cut production and scientific
periments spoiled during the cam-
s-wide power outage Tuesday.
JAll University dining halls lost pow-
■, but Lloyd Smith, assistant director
■Food Services, said no real problems
Rcurred.
f Breakfast diners at both Duncan and
tl)e Commons dining halls, had to eat
in the dark, but the large windows at
Sbisa Dining Hall provided plenty of
light to eat by, Smith said.
) Students from the Commons were
Int to Sbisa for lunch, and two genera
tor-powered meat cutters were set up
to provide cold cuts for lunch.
I Gas warmers enabled Duncan Din-
ig Hall to serve lunch. However,
udder Tower restaurant closed be-
luse of the power blackout.
The Tower restaurant has an all-
lectrickitchen, ’Smith said. “Besides,
ubody would want to climb 11 flights
stairs to get there since the elevator
as out. ”
iMany University diners fled to
[iorthgate to eat. McDonald s, Farm
ers Market and Charlie’s Grocery all
ixperienced a pickup in business.
■ Owner Phil Springer said
■cDonald’s was a mob scene. “Al-
■ough we were crowded, he said,
("tlie students . . . were good-natured
having to wait a little longer for their
)rder.”
The lines were also long at Farmers
larket, but Manager Sam Lampo said
hey flowed smoothly and there were
io problems.
Sandwiches, ice cream, biscuits and
ausage were the big sellers at Charlie’s
Irocery, J. E. Robbins Sr., operator of
he grocery, said.
Another hot spot on campus was the
.reamery.
Blackout halts Tuesday
publication of Battalion
The campus-wide blackout also tem
porarily stalled operations at The Bat
talion Tuesday, making publication of
the newspaper impossible.
Polly Patranella, student publica
tions advertising manager, said it was
the first time The Battalion has missed
a day of publication in the 30 years she
has been at Texas A&M University.
At the heart of the problem was a
computer system which was in
capacitated by the power outage.
“Publication depends on electrical
power at different stages for the paper
to come out,’ Donald C. Johnson, stu
dent publications coordinator said. “At
the time the power shut down, the
paper had not come out of typeset
ting,” he said.
Stories for The Battalion are com
posed on a computer system and
typesetting is when these stories are
set into columns of type as they are to
appear in the newspaper.
Johnson said if the typesetting had
been finished, the newspaper could
have been printed at the Bryan-
College Station Eagle.
Advertisers were notified The Battal
ion wouldn’t come out and were given
the option of running their ads today or
having their money refunded.
Besides additional advertisements.
Images, a special tabloid supplement,
was inserted in today’s edition of The
Battalion. However, because the tab
loid was pre-printed the date on it re
mains Tuesday.
United Press International
CAIRO, Egypt—Egypt took its first
steps toward naming a new president
by calling a Parliament session today,
but security forces maintained absolute
secrecy on their interrogation of the
four surviving assassins of President
Anwar Sadat.
Even the identities of the five uni
formed gunmen who broke from Tues
day’s military parade commemorating
the 1973 war against Israel to kill Sadat
and five others in a hail of grenades and
automatic rifle fire were unknown.
Egypt was immediately placed un
der a yearlong state of emergency ban
ning all demonstrations and gatherings.
Parliament Speaker Soufi .Abu Taleb
automatically became interim presi
dent pending a national referendum
Oct. 12, a mere two days after Sadat’s
funeral Saturday.
The speaker called meetings of Parli
ament for this morning and evening to
declare the presidential seat vacant and
to nominate the new president - almost
certainly Vice President Hosni
Mobarak, Sadat’s 53-year-old, hand
picked successor.
The lack of government details of the
assassination prompted a flood of
speculation on which of Sadat’s numer
ous enemies was behind the well-
planned attack, which also injured 38
dignitaries near Sadat on the reviewing
stand.
Sen. Charles Percy, chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee, said af
ter a 75-minute classified meeting with
Secretary of State Alexander Haig
Tuesday that they could only “guess" at
foreign involvement.
“The best as I can understand it, it
was a group of Egyptian officers and
enlisted personnel perhaps working
with and in sympathy with the fun
damentalist Islamic movement, Percy
said.
Three different groups in Beirut,
Lebanon claimed responsibility. The
only known faction was the “Free Offi
cers of the Opposition Front for the
Liberation of Egypt,” led by former
Egyptian , Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen.
Saad Ecraih El-Shazli.
Two unknown groups—the “Inde
pendent Organization for the Libera
tion of Egypt” and the “seif sword of
Islam unit of the forces of the Arab
revolution”—also phoned to claim re
sponsibility.
A medical bulletin issued by doctors
at Maadi armed forces hospital Tuesday
night said Sadat died of “severe ner
vous shock, internal bleeding and dam
age to the left lung” two hours after the
dramatic assassination.
The assassination shook the West but
especially Israel where leaders won
dered if the peace process begun by
Sadat after 30 years of war would not
collapse.
“We hope that the peace process,
despite the cruel act of its enemies, will
continue as we know President Sadat
would wish with all his heart,” said Is
raeli Prime Minister menachem Begin,
who called an emergency Cabinet
meeting today.
Egyptian Defense Minister Gen.
Abdel Halim Abu Ghazala, who nar
rowly escaped assassination himself,
condemned the assassination and vow
ed the military woidd “check anybody
who attempts to touch the nation’s
freedom and honor. ”
The surprise attack on Sadat by five
soldiers was made as the two-hour
parade commemorating the 1973 war
was approaching its end in Nasser City,
an eastern suburb of Cairo.
As six Mirage jets flew overhead dis
tracting viewers, a truck pulling a field
artillery piece broke from the march
and stopped. A moment later the sol
diers jumped out and ran at the grand
stand firing their Soviet-made AK-47
.automatic rifles and throwing two
grenades.
“Bullets flew everywhere . . . there
was screaming and chaos and lots of
smoke and dust, said American free
lance reporter Patricia Ochs.
One assassin jumped over the fence
of the grandstand to get as close as
possible to Sadat. Sadat’s bodyguards
fired back and some threw themselves
at the president to protect im.
But they were too late. Sadat lay
crumpled on the floor of a reviewing
stand which was littered with bodies
and splattered with blood.
The assassins attempted to escape,
but security agents killed one and ar
rested four others.
Sadat sat flanked by Mobarak and
Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Halim
Abu Ghazala, but they escaped the as
sassins.
Sadat was rushed by helicopter to
the hospital in a coma.
He died at 8:40 a.m., nearly two
hours after he was hit. ,
Libyan leader threatens
to kill Sadat’s followers
United Press International
TRIPOLI, Libya—Libyan leader
Col. Moammar Khadafy vowed “death
will be the end” of anyone who still
advocates the policy of peace with Is
rael as pursued by assassinated Egyp
tian President Anwar Sadat.
The Libyan news agency reported
the statements by the Libyan strong
man Tuesday after a smiling Khadafy
had appeared in the wake of the assassi
nation to say that tensions should now
end between Libya and Egypt.
“As of today, October 6, we chal
lenge whoever takes the path of Sadat
and whoever prays under the Israeli
flag in Jerusalem,” the agency JANA
quoted Khadafy referring to Sadat’s
peace trip to Israel.
“Death will be the end of whoever
attempts treason after today,” he said.
“A large number of pillars of the
tottering regime have been liquidated
tonight at the hands of the revolutiona
ry forces which killed Sadat,’’ Khadafy
said. “The Egyptian people as of to
morrow will take power in Egypt. ”
In a Libyan television interview seen
on French television, Khadafy said,
“this indicates the opening of the fron
tier between Libya and Egypt.”
Khadafy’s turbulent career as Libyan
head of state revolves around his fer
vent belief he should have been Arab
world leader after the death of Sadat's
charismatic predecessor as president
Carnal Abdel Nasser.
Sadat who termed Khadafy the
“madman of Libya” and “the prince of
evil” in an interview published Sunday
had earlier accused Khadafy of plotting
to assassinate him.
Sadat’s successor nominated
Wanda Gamer, an employee of the
Creamery, said the Creamery tried to
sell as many of its products on hand as
possible, so they wouldn’t go bad, al
though those products stored in walk-
in refrigerators remained cold for sev
eral hours after the nower went out.
Ice cream production for the day
had not begun when the blackout be
gan, she stated.
“If we had started making the ice
cream before and during the power
outage,” she said, “it would have been
ruined.”
Ruined was an accurate description
for several science experiments after
the power outage, William Taber, a
biology professor, said.
About 50 refrigerators and freezers
are in the biological sciences buildings,
he said, and some spores and cells be
ing stored there were ruined.
No emergencies wre reported at
A. P. Beutel Health Center, but some
routine lab work had to be postponed,
T. P. Lakey, an administrative assis
tant, said.
The center’s generator was out for
nearly four hours, he said.
“This is the first time the generator
has failed to come on since it was in
stalled in Beutel,” Lackey said. “The
generator, which usually kicks on a few
seconds after the physical plant power
goes out, sounded like it was running,
but we just didn’t have any juice.”
United Press International
CAIRO Egypt — Vice President
Hosni Mobarak, a strong supporter of
peace with Israel, was nominated to
succeed assassinated President Anwar
Sadat in a swift move assured of confir
mation today by Egypt’s parliament.
Mobarak narrowly escaped death
Tuesday when rebel soldiers gunned
down Sadat at a military parade and
emerged as the undisputed political
heir of the Egyptian leader.
Mobarak broke five hours of official
silence with the announcement of
Sadat’s death, and choking back tears
said Egypt would continue to “march
in his footsteps along the path of
peace.”
“Our hands will not cease to push
the wheel of peace,” he said.
A former air force commander
trained in the Soviet Union, Mobarak
pledged Egypt would honor “all inter
national charters, treaties and commit
ments.”
Egypt’s ruling National Democratic
Party nominated Mobarak as Sadat’s
successor Tuesday night, setting the
stage for a swift transition that will be
completed with a national referendum
on Monday.
Parliament was certain to confirm
Mobarak’s nomination in a vote today
because the ruling party has an over
whelming majority.
Parliamentary speaker Soufi Abu
Taleb was named interim president
Tuesday until Sadat’s successor is for
mally chosen which the constitution
requires within 60 days.
Mobarak, 53, was named vice presi
dent on April 15, 1975, hand-chosen by
Sadat to succeed him after serving as
Committee option:
closing med schools
By PHYLLIS HENDERSON
Battalion Staff
Closing the Texas A&M College of
Medicine and several other medical
'schools in the state is one option being
Mnsidered by a governor’s subcommit-
iee to deplete an oversupply of Texas
doctors anticipated by 2000.
But Robert Stone, dean of the Col
ie of Medicine at Texas A&M Univer
sity, says he thinks it highly unlikely
such an action will be taken.
Discussion of closing the medical
schools follows a recent determination
a subcommittee of the governor’s
Committee on Higher Eduction that by
the year 2000 Texas will have more doc
tors than it needs.
Stone said several options have been
discussed by the sub-committee to re
duce the growing number of doctors in
the state. One of these options, he said,
is the possible closing of the Texas A&M
College of Medicine, the Texas Tech
College of Medicine, the Texas College
of Osteopathic Medicine and the elimi
nation of state financial supplements to
the Baylor College of Medicine for
Texas residents.
But, Stone stressed, “I think the poli
tical realities are that none of these
schools will be closed.”
Dr. J.M. Prescott, vice president for
academic affairs, agreed. Prescott said
he did not expect the sub-committee to
recommend closing the schools; howev
er, if it does, that recommendation
woidd not be enough to close the
schools. “It would have to be done by
the Legislature,” he said.
The University would fight such a re
commendation, Prescott added. “We
can present very convincing evidence
that we should stay in business,” he
said. One of the arguments the Univer
sity could use, he said, is that Texas
A&M med-school graduates have
scored higher on the state medical
board exams than other graduates in the
state.
Both Prescott and Stone agreed that
limiting enrollment at other medical
schools in the state would be a more
appropriate and useful solution to the
problem of too many doctors.
The Texas A&M College of Medicine
produces 32 doctors each year. The
University of Texas System, with four
colleges of medicine, produces 800.
“Eliminating 32 students wouldn’t
have any effect,” Stone said.
Prescott said: “The way to control
that (the number of doctors) is very ob
vious — the UT System controls the
number of graduates each year.” He
added that aiming enrollment reduc
tions at the larger schools would be “the
intelligent way to reduce the number of
physicians.”
David Gorka, a senator from Ward II, watches as
a student completes a Student Government sur
vey. The survey seeks input on issues confronting
the Student Senate.
commander of the air force during the
1973 war with Israel.
As vice president Mobarak was
known as a strong supporter of the
president and of the president’s Middle
East policies, including the peace trea
ty with Israel.
“I always learn from President Sadat,
whose knowledge and experience is
like a university,” Mobarak once said.
But Sadat towered over Egyptians
politics for 11 years, making it uncer
tain what direction his successor will
take once free of the influence of his
mentor.
Mobarak faces threats of a possible
invasion of the neighboring Sudan by
Libya, continuing ostracism of Egypt
by the Arab world over its peace with
Israel and religious unrest by Moslem
extremists at home.
One of Mobarak’s trips was to the
United States last week for urgent con
sultations with the Reagan administra
tion on a Libyan threat to Sudan’s se
curity.
Student Senate
to meet tonight
The Student Senate is scheduled to
discuss the results of a campus canvass
and vote on two bills at its meeting in
204 Harrington at 7:30 tonight.
The campus canvass was designed to
gather input from the student body on
issues confronting the Senate. Each
senator was required to have members
of his constituency complete a ques
tionnaire containing questions on five
of these issues: recognition of sororities
and fraternities; Q-drop policy; night
exams; projected use of a major airline
to fly out of Easterwood Airport; and
the need for a long-distance telephone
service, such as MCI.
The Student Services Committee is
scheduled to report out two bills to the
senate for a vote. The KANM Radio
Bill proposes that the Senate break its
ties with the radio station in order to
help the station stand on its own. The
Traffic Safety Bill suggests the Senate
look into the feasibility of providing
safety billboards aimed directly at Tex
as A&M students.
The Senate has also scheduled an
orientation for its freshman aides and
the announcement of senate vacancies
in the College of Medicine and Off-
Campus Ward I.